Washington: President Donald Trump on Friday announced plans for the US military to induct a sixth generation of fighter jets called F 47s, a toned-down version of it will be available to allies. The aircraft is being built by Boeing.
“The F-47 will be the most advanced, most capable, most lethal aircraft ever built,” President Trump said in remarks from the Oval Office, flanked by Secretary of State Pete Hegseth and top military general.
“An experimental version of the plane has secretly been flying for almost five years, and we’re confident that it massively overpowers the capabilities of any other nation,” he added.
Secretary of Defence Hegseth said: “We’ve had the F 15. We have had the F 16, the F 18, the F 22, the F 35, and now we have the F 47 which sends a very direct, clear message to our allies, that we’re not going anywhere, and to our enemies, that we can, we will be able to project power around the globe unimpeded for generations to come.”
A new fleet of these “magnificent planes” will be built in his tenure, the President said. “It’s ready to go,” he added. “They’ve already built much of what has to be built in terms of production, including the sheds, and will ensure that the USA continues to dominate the skies. We’re given an order for a lot.”
The American President said the aircraft would be available to allies as well. “Our allies are calling constantly. They want to buy them also. And we will be selling (them to) certain allies, perhaps toned-down versions. We would like to tone them down about 10 per cent which probably makes sense, because someday, maybe they’re not our allies.”
Few other details were released by the President or the secretary of defence. Not even the price. “We can’t tell you the price,” Trump said, “because it would give way to some of the technology and some of the size of the plant.”
However, the president did say the aircraft will fly with drones. “This plane flies with drones; flies with many, many drones, as many as you want. And it’s a technology that’s new, but it doesn’t fly by itself. It flies with many drones, as many as we want. And that’s something that no other plane can do.”
The name of the project to build the aircraft is “The next generation of air dominance”.
“This is a big day for our United States Air Force as well,” Air Force Chief of Staff, General David Alvin, said. He went on to describe the F 47 as “the crown jewel in the next generation air dominance family of systems, we’re gonna be able to keep that promise. Welcome to the future”.
(IANS)
